Building a Local Small Business SaaS Vendors Stack

[Garrett Sussman]

Building a Local Small Business SaaS Vendors Stack

Let?s face it: digital media marketing isn?t exactly straightforward.

A constantly shifting landscape, technology and marketing strategies with little definitive data. Whether you?ve been a part of this ecosystem for years or weeks, trying to decide exactly what kind of digital media marketing strategy you should recommend to small businesses can quickly become a frustrating experience.

And yet, no one is more susceptible to the confusion of the marketing world than the local small business owner. More often than not, they?ve spent most of their time and energy focusing on building a product/providing a service.

The unrelenting speed of the digital media marketing world makes it a challenge to keep up, especially when they have a business to run. That?s why they turn to digital/marketing agencies to choose the best tools for the job.

?Tools? being the operative word.

There?s no catch-all SaaS solution that will accomplish all of your client?s goals.

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To create an effective Marketing Stack every aspect of the customer experience needs to be accounted for and handled. Fortunately, there?s a SaaS solution to every step of the customer?s? journey.

That?s where the Marketing Stack comes in. Designing a marketing strategy from the ground up to guide users from prospect to converted customer. Of course, there will be slight tweaks for a Local Marketing Stack (a focus on local SEO, for example), but the idea remains the same.

Inspired by the infographic below from Tidings, here?s some guidance to help identify the best tools that agencies can provide their clients. It?s worth mentioning that if a small business has just begun to develop an online presence, agencies will likely need to completely overhaul their digital presence.

Naturally, it?s important to conduct research whenever adding a new SaaS vendor, and where do consumers go to research software products?

Capterra.com

G2Crowd.com

Issues that agencies will have to resolve include:

-Have they already started Payroll/Accounting/Payments?

-Do they have a website? Is it optimized?

-Have they decided what type of Content they?ll be creating?

-Are they using Analytics on Social?

Considering the undeniable importance of having a healthy digital media presence (with 50% of local searches leading to store visits within a day), local business owners can?t afford to leave those kinds of questions unanswered.

Brian goes on to identify some great vendor options across the various 'arms' of Business Ops, Marketing, Customer Service, etc.

Read the full article here.

How do you choose which SaaS vendors you use for your business or agency?

Do you use Capterra or G2 Crowd when researching options, or do you come to Local Search Forum or depend on friends and colleagues to recommend solutions?